The prince is very fierce

Dengzhou.

50,000 Xiliang troops were stationed on the plain, 15,000 Xiliang cavalry, and 5,000 imperial cavalry were on standby to prevent the King of Chu from counterattacking from Xiangyang and once again locking the imperial troops and horses in the Guanzhong Road.

Inside the Chinese army's tent, the scorching hot weather made many generals in armor sweat like rain. The heat steamed up, and even the scenery outside the tent was slightly distorted.

General Tu Qianchu of Xiliang was sitting in the tent drinking tea, indifferent to the matters discussed by many generals and military advisors. Anyway, he came out to help the court fight, and he would do whatever Guan Hongye asked him to do. It didn't matter how he was beaten. , as long as you don’t die in vain.

Coach Guan Hongye stood in front of the map, his face expressionless and emotionless, as if his face was paralyzed. Ever since he was humiliated by Xu Buling in Nanyang last time, he has maintained this look. No one can see how many emotions Guan Hongye has hidden in his heart.

After everyone discussed for a while, a deputy general hurried over. After scanning the generals, he did not make any announcement like last time. Instead, he walked to Guan Hongye's side and whispered:

"General, Prince Su disobeyed orders and insisted on gathering 20,000 troops and marching towards Xiangyang. According to the marching speed, he will arrive in Dengzhou tomorrow night and reach Xiangyang the day after tomorrow. You see..."

Guan Hongye's eyelids twitched, but he couldn't laugh and scold Xu Buling for not being able to fight nonsense like last time. A few days ago, Xu Buling had sent a petition for war, requesting to lead troops to attack Xiangyang. Guan Hongye got the emperor's instruction and could no longer let Xu Buling get involved in the front line. Naturally, he dismissed it on the spot and asked Xu Buling to stay in the rear.

Now Xu Buling disobeyed and forcibly led his troops over, and issued a military order saying, "If you don't take Xiangyang, come to Titou." Guan Hongye couldn't stop Xu Buling unless he beheaded him.

Whether Xu Buring could lead 20,000 miscellaneous soldiers to capture the Xiangyang defense line where more than 100,000 soldiers and horses were stationed, Guan Hongye almost didn't have to think about it. Xiangyang has no way to attack, how can 20,000 soldiers fight?

Although there was a precedent last time, "an expert cast a spell and thunder struck down the city", but Qin Jing was not a fool. How could he suffer a second loss after suffering it once? At this time, shouting a hundred times, "Thunder Lord, help me" may not be of any use. He didn't believe that he could still shoot thousands of arrows without orders, so he ran up to the top of the city and opened the door. What's more, what if the door is opened? After 20,000 soldiers entered, could they still slaughter more than 100,000 of the four kings' coalition forces?

Guan Hongye was silent for a moment and said calmly: "With 20,000 soldiers who have just been trained for a few months, we can capture Xiangyang. I will chop off the head and use it as a urinal. Then I will give Xu Buling the military order and let him sit in Nanyang." If you act rashly and make mistakes during the march, you will be dealt with according to military law."

The deputy general looked troubled: "Prince Su's military order has been issued. Even if the imperial edict comes, he may not be able to stop it. If Prince Su insists on attacking Xiangyang, should we wait and watch from the other side or..."

Guan Hongye had suffered a loss once. How could he dare to stand back and remain motionless? He thought about it and said, "If Xu Bu Ling really comes, just let him fight. Anyway, there are only 20,000 useless soldiers. We will kill a hundred of them." "However, just in case, let the army be on standby. If you are not lucky enough and Xiangyang City is really destroyed, rush over to help him quickly and don't let him find another excuse for being too far away."

The deputy general didn't believe that 20,000 soldiers could defeat Xiangyang, but it was always good to be prepared. He nodded lightly, turned around and left...

-------

A hundred miles away, directly opposite Dengzhou, is Xiangyang.

Under the scorching sun, the majestic and majestic city king's flag was fluttering, and endless soldiers gathered inside and outside the city walls. Bunkers, trenches, river mouth fortresses, etc. were waiting for them. They were like impregnable steel fortresses, rooted in the plain land between the two mountain ranges.

On the city wall, Qin Jing, the commander-in-chief of the Chu army, held his sword in his hand, walked behind Song Zhengping in a python robe, and raised his hand to point to the north:

"...The day before yesterday, Guan Hongye sent troops to tentatively attack Caozhuang. There were about 5,000 people. They retreated immediately after failing to attack Caozhuang. From the perspective of the last general, Guan Hongye did not have many elite soldiers, and he was afraid of destroying the Xiliang army. There is no intention of taking Xiangyang. However, it will not be easy for us to counterattack back; there are 15,000 Xiliang cavalry stationed in Dengzhou, among which 5,000 "Hubenqi" are armored cavalry. They are almost on the plain. Invincible, if we go out, a hundred thousand people will be killed by the Xiliang army..."

Song Zhengping walked with his hands behind his back, his brows furrowed. Losing Nanyang and Mashan Pass would basically be a disaster for the Chu region; if the imperial court was blocked in the Wuguan Road, the terrain was long and narrow, the mountains were rugged, and there were many passes. No matter how powerful the cavalry was, they would only be able to dismount and lead them. As we walk along, we don't have to worry about the Xiliang cavalry at all.

Nowadays, Mashankou and Nanyang are gone, and the only place Chu can defend is Xiangyang. From Xiangyang to Nanyang, it is a plain of nearly a hundred miles. There are no mountains, no water, no passes, it is just a large flat land; although the cavalry cannot Attacking Xiangyang, but five thousand Xiliang heavy cavalry squatted at the door. As many as they went out were killed, and Xiangyang was also killed.

If you want to enter Guanzhong, this is the only way, and you can't do it without fighting back from Nanyang. Song Zhengping thought for a while:

"The King of Wei controls South Vietnam alone. He has 20,000 elite cavalry under his command. He can probably fight the Xiliang cavalry. Duke Zhou, please write a letter to the King of Wei and ask him to quickly mobilize the cavalry."

Zhou Kai walked beside Song Zhengping and shook his head when he heard this: "The King of Wei has the strongest military force among the four kings, but he only has a small amount of wealth. The 20,000 cavalry were obtained from Emperor Xiaozong after all the good words. , I have always regarded it as my lifeblood; if I ask the King of Wei to confront the Xiliang Cavalry, I am afraid he will not agree. "

Song Zhengping frowned: "What can we do? I am blocking the front, and what is the use of the three of them sending soldiers who can't even get enough armor? The 50,000 Xiliang army on the opposite side is stationed there. Is it difficult to let them go? Is this king going to use human lives to fill it? Just tell the three of them that if they don’t send people or provide food, I will surrender the imperial court to guard Ezhou and see how the three of them fight.”

Zhou Kai sighed and quickly asked his counselor to go down and draft a letter. Then he looked at Qin Jing next to him:

"Nanyang is lost. I haven't figured it out until now. If we send 10,000 troops to attack Luanshan County, even if they all die outside, and 5,000 soldiers and horses guard Nanyang, we will still be safe. How can Xu Bu Ling lead 2,000 cavalry?" The city? If this happens again to Xiangyang..."

Speaking of this, both King Chu and Qin Jing were a little annoyed. After all, without the bad idea of ​​'army marching in deceitful ways', Nanyang Zhen would not have lost it.

But after all, Zhou Kai was the father-in-law of the King of Chu, so there was nothing wrong with him paying attention. It was just that the other party had made a superior move, and the King of Chu did not blame Zhou Kai.

Qin Jing has always been worried about what happened last time. He hesitated for a moment, shook his head and said:

"The other side said that Xu Buling asked an expert to cast a spell. This is nonsense. The city was broken too quickly at that time. According to the defender who escaped back, Xu Buling brought four strange warriors among the cavalry. The sound of the door weapon was like a fire dragon spitting a message, and the sound was like thunder that spread for miles. The sound was so loud that it frightened the crossbow soldiers on the city. They just hid and allowed Xu Buling to rely on his extraordinary martial arts. We reached the top of the city and opened the city gate from the inside..."

Zhou Kai frowned: "If we don't dare to shoot arrows on the city top, who will stop those Jianghu people? Does General Qin have any countermeasures?"

Qin Jing lost his city, and if he pretended that nothing happened, he would not be worthy of being a general. He raised his hand and pointed at the stone bunker outside the city wall:

"The Qimen didn't have many weapons, and they were powerful. The actual range was much lower than the crossbow, and the damage was not as good as the trebuchet. It could only smash a small hole in the city gate. At that time, the soldiers who defended the city suffered from inexperience, so they were just a few inches away. In a big chaos, in fact, even if you stand still, at most 12 people will be killed, and you can treat it as if it doesn't exist...

...The general has already greeted the defenders at several passes in advance and prepared himself mentally. The crossbows are about two miles away, and they can destroy the ghost weapons with a volley. He also built a lot of stone bunkers outside the passes. It's about four feet thick, and the weapon can't penetrate it at all; there are small arrow openings on the bunker, and as long as Xu Bu Ling uses his martial arts to force his way through the barrier, even a true god will be shot into a sieve by him..."

Being so fully prepared, King Song Zhengping of Chu nodded slightly, feeling a little at ease. After thinking for a moment, he warned:

"Xu Buling used four Qimen weapons, not necessarily only four; and the raid was in a detour from the mountains, so he couldn't carry heavy objects. There might be more powerful ones. Just like the divine arm crossbow used last time , come here with the crossbow this time, don't scare the soldiers who have never seen the world again. "

Qin Jing thought about it and felt that it made sense. He quickly raised his hands and clasped his fists:

"Your Majesty is aware of this. I will ask the engineers to thicken the bunker to make sure everything is safe."

King Chu nodded slightly, and after inspecting the border, he took Zhou Kai and left the Xiangyang Pass...

------

"Sir, a total of twenty-four artillery pieces have been brought here, sixteen of them are the small cannons used last time; eight three-thousand-jin heavy cannons, the range of the test firing is about four and a half miles, and the power is estimated to be ten times greater than the one used last time. , enough to collapse the city wall..."

Outside Nanyang City, 20,000 infantry soldiers left the military camp one after another and marched towards Xiangyang, two hundred miles away.

At the pier beside the White River, several merchant ships docked at the shore. The cargo ships were temporarily modified to clear their decks, and heavy pedals were put down on the shore.

Yang Guanyu, who looked like a giant bear, was holding a hemp rope in his hand and was sweating profusely as he slowly moved forward on the deck. Eight Xiliang soldiers held the wooden base of the huge thing with their hands and worked together to push it onto the cargo ship. .

On top of the base, there is a huge three-meter-long cylinder, which is tightly bound and covered with black cloth. Its extremely heavy weight drives out deep grooves on the ground, almost bending the pedals.

Xu Buring stood under the merchant ship, under the scorching sun, and together with several strong men, assembled the gun barrel that had just been taken out of the merchant ship's grain pile onto the base that had been split into parts.

Nightingale stood in front of him, holding a small account book in his hand and carefully reporting the current inventory.

After Xu Buling installed the last cannon, he wiped the sweat from his forehead with a towel and looked at the temporarily modified cargo ship:

"I have saved up this little possession for half a year. I will take half of it away first and leave the rest in Nanyang, lest the boat sinks on the way and nothing will be left. Also, load the gunpowder separately on the boat. You should pay more attention to it, otherwise it will be dry. As soon as the dryness explodes, Qin Jing and Guan Hongye can watch free fireworks. "

Nightingale nodded seriously, closed the account book, and ran onto the ship.

Xu Buling supervised his subordinates on the pier. After transporting the treasures to the ship and setting off, he got on his horse and returned to the military camp to hand over to General Yang Zunyi. Then he caught up with the army and headed for Xiangyang.

But before Xu Buling and his soldiers arrived at the military camp, a scholar riding a horse on the plain path caught his attention.

There was a war going on in the Chu region, and there were heavy troops stationed in Nanyang City. Except for the common people who couldn't leave, most of the others went to seek refuge elsewhere. Apart from soldiers and grain carts, there are basically no caravans to be seen on the official road, and it is impossible for scholars on study tours to come to such a place.

Xu Buling glanced at it casually and felt that it looked familiar. He raised his hand and asked the soldiers to rush to the military camp first. He drove his horse across the fields and came to the path between the large farmland.

The scholar on horseback was carrying a bookcase with a long strip of black cloth next to it. He was flipping through the pages of a book while walking, and he looked like a master.

Xu Buling took the sword from the side of the horse, hung it on his waist, walked quickly to the scholar, and said with a smile:

"Mr. Mei, are you lost? Yuelu Mountain is a thousand miles away in the south. Are you going west to prepare for the imperial examination in Beijing?"

On horseback, Mei Qusheng closed the book, turned his head and smiled:

"Master Xu, long time no see. I heard that Yu Fu was in Fengshan, so I came to see her."

Xu Buling didn't believe this nonsense at all, rode up to him on horseback, and stretched out his hand:

"Is it Grandpa Fubao is up to something again? Is he going to kill the emperor or steal the imperial seal this time? "

"Hehe..."

Mei Qusheng shrugged helplessly:

"I'm just an errand boy, how can I know these things? However, the last time you attacked Nanyang, Master almost dropped his jaw. He was so distracted that he spent a whole day and night thinking about it before he rearranged the chessboard. In my opinion, this time I should give you good news."

While speaking, Mei Qusheng took out a letter from his arms and handed it to Xu Buling.

Xu Buling raised his hand to take the envelope, opened it, and glanced at it...

"Damn! This old man..."

"Hey, that's your grandpa, you should be careful."

Xu Buling frowned and looked at the handwriting on the letter. In fact, it only said "I would like to be your son's concubine, not the emperor's concubine", but Xu Buling quickly figured out the various meanings in it.

Mei Qusheng rode on his horse, looked at the endless army in the distance, and said softly:

"You were caught by Song Ying while burning incense at the Queen's Mausoleum. You can't cover it up. What you did will soon be guessed by the emperor. This sentence is just to add fuel to your fire. You can even break the deadlock in Chang'an City. This small problem should be easy to solve, right?"

"You call it a small problem?"

"No matter how big the problem is, it was caused by Mr. Xu's philandering. You can't just pull up your pants and deny it."

Mei Qusheng chuckled, turned his horse's head, and headed south.

Xu Buling glanced at the letter for a few times and then asked, "When did it happen?"

"It's probably now. Youzhou is two thousand miles away from Chang'an. I will help you intercept the news on the way. If you can take Xiangyang, the news will reach Chang'an; if you can't take it by bluffing, Master will throw dirty water on the Cui family, which will be regarded as Yu Fu's betrothal gift. But once the trouble is diverted, this opportunity will be missed."

Xu Buling nodded slightly and thought for a while: "Next time, old gentleman, you'd better give me a heads-up, otherwise it will hurt feelings."

"My master, don't have feelings. Goodbye."

...